I was wrong about all four of those comments. And many more, no doubt. However, if you and I disagree it does not mean that you are right and I am wrong every time (no, I am not going to go back searching for examples) nor does it mean that I am right and you are wrong. Sometimes neither of us is right because its a matter of opinion rather than a matter of fact. And as I wrote NO ONE deserves to be "ridiculed" here (=speechoractionintendedtocausecontemptuouslaughteratapersonorthing;derision; Toridiculeistomakefunof,eithersportivelyandgood-humoredly,or unkindly with the intention ofhumiliating. ) Debated, sure. Or ignored. I stand by that opinion and although we have actually had some civil discussions of late, probably because both of us have toned it down, I think that whole exchange brought the board down a notch. Other posters have managed to avoid doing that entirely.

There are a couple of different philosophical points here, so don't take this personally.

1-I'm not in the habit of ridiculing people. I'm fine if someone wants to sign Drew and I am fine if they would prefer Bogaerts. Both are fine choices that could be argued either way.

I am less fine if someone calls Drew a terrible offensive player. He isn't. He is well above average for a SS. The poster then needs to be corrected, though maybe not ridiculed.

The last rung of the ladder is when someone ridicules our #1 pick as a slow-footed OF, when the guy is a pitcher. If someone posts something negative about the RS, when they have no idea of what they are talking about, they need to be ridiculed. it is really in their best interest. Your opinion should be a thing of value. If someone says you can stick your hand in a fire without getting hurt, that opinion needs to be ridiculed. When one of my friends said that he could drive just as good drunk as sober, the opinion needed to be ridiculed.

2-You have to get used to the idea of a hierarchy. My opinion of the medical field is not as good as yours. My understanding of statistics was not as good as 30 Something/Val. My understanding of our prospects is not as good as Hugh's. I don't feel bad about it. I don't feel a loss of self-esteem. It is what it is. The fact that I can sit here and try to understand what they are saying is exciting to me.

3--As Luguna mentioned, the reason why I will almost always be right when we disagree is because I allow myself to be pro and anti any given move. It is akin to being an independent in a discussion where your opponent supports the far left or the far right 100% of the time. The person allowing themselves two options will always out-think the person allowing themselves one option.

It doesn't make me any smarter. It's just that when you always take the anti-Red Sox side, I will always have an advantage.

Most of this is off point. The point I was trying to make is that NO ONE here should be ridiculed. That lowers the quality of the board a notch. If someone wants to stick his hand in the fire claiming that he won't get hurt, my response would be "sure, go ahead and try it" (or just ignore him). I do not try to personally demean (=ridicule) that individual for his absurd position. Example: someone thinks its not a good idea to get a flu shot because they think it will give them the flu (the flu vaccine by injection contains only killed virus). Should I ridicule that individual for his baseless beliefs or might it not be better to present the evidence against his position? I do not even ridicule the easiest target here: Pike. I just ignore him when he gets off on his tangents. EVERYONE deserves respect, everyone. Other good posters here do not claim the right to ridicule anyone and that is what sets you apart (not in a good way)from them. When was the last time you saw Southpaw or Moon or Hill or some of the other guys here feeling entitled to ridicule another poster? As for me being negative about everything Red Sox: I am not going to defend myself except to say that you need to pay more attention.

I am going to leave it at that since you and I have been able to engage recently in civil discussions. I consider that a positive step. I hope it can continue.

While there are many deserving candidates for the poster of the year. I will start by saying I was honored to be nominated by Moon, who is a vey knowledgable baseball fan and among our most thorough and asute memebers. So perhaps we could instead of trying to call attention to why one is more worthy than another or why one is not worthy at all. Perhaps we may try to speak to those we enjoy engaging in conversation or debate that we've learned from and appreciate and try not to be divisive...

I have my personal favorites Members who I very much enjoy debating and "chatting about all things baseball". In the last decade or more this forum has served to be my connection to the city I call home and my local pub, where i can come and chat about my Red Sox..over the years. i've gained a greater knowledge of the game itself, how to better understand the new age data that has become an intrical part of presenting ones opinions and the rich history of the game itself.

It's funny how a thread started with good intentions quickly spiraled into the abiss...At the risk of overstepping my boundries. Perhaps those of you that feel the need to use this thread to air your differences or this forum for your own amusement with trollish behavior or enjoy playing devils advocate with multiple personalities and screen names. Would in the spirit of this thread and with respect to it's author take your quibblish banter to another thread.

Moon is certainly worthy of being crowned poster of the year as are many others. Moon's contributions to this forum, just for the amount of data and information he post on a daily basis alone, which spurs lots of good debate and challenges each of us to step up our game if we chose to take a counter position. Merits strong consideration, but it is also his demeanor when one does engage in him in debate (except one noteworthy troll) that I choose to open threads started by him and contribute..

There are literally dozen worthy of consideration. Which is why I enjoy coming to this board daily and have now for more than a decade. So regardless of which group you align yourself with? Each of us are baseball fans first and foremost most are ardent supporters of our beloved World Champion Boston Red Sox. Many others visit us from other cities who share our passion for the game and help to make this board richer by their presense.

In closing, I would ask that we honor Moon with embracing the goodwill intent of this thread and in the spirit of and with great respect for Moon. Let try to use this thread to celebrate each other and embrace the diversity of one another. It is because of all of us that this forum has and will continue to be worthy of my precious time.

Pumpsie has a reputation as Mr. Negative that he earned once upon a time, but anyone who actually reads his posts now can see that he's actually making an honest effort to be objective and that he says a lot of positive things about Sox players as well. For example, he was one of the posters sticking up for Ortiz against the attacks from Bill and 'jackbu'.

The point I was trying to make is that NO ONE here should be ridiculed.

I disagree.

When someone is stating their honest opinion, with at least a modicum of insight, then you are correct.

If someone comes in to say criticize our #1 pick as a slow-footed outfielder, who doesn't field as well as Gomes, explain to me why they should not be ridiculed? They did not come by their opinion honestly, so they are not being honest with us. For lack of a better term, they are trolling.

And, FWIW, I am not a believer in 'you are entitled to your opinion'. My belief is that one is entitled to an informed opinion. How would you react if I started giving out obviously uninformed medical opinions? If one were to ask me my opinion on whether thie 9 month old child is underweight or not, the only appropriate opinion is 'I have no clue. Ask Pumpsie'.

Further, if someone is unwilling to do any research at all, I am not sure why they would want to offer an opinion. It's why I don't often opine on our minor league system. I like that we have a lot of low numbers next to ratings, and that maybe we'll have 8-10 in the top-100, but I can't translate arm motion. So when posters like Hugh and RSProspects and others in here start explaining why they don't like a given prospect, I'm done. They know this stuff and i don't.

And last, but certainly not least, it is okay for you to change your mind. When I explained Lester and Doubront to you, you pretty much refused to listen to anything I said. As I have said before, I think you're a very bright guy, but you need more of an open mind. To paraphrase one of the best things I ever heard, it is much easier to teach nuclear physics to someone who knows nothing about it than to teach algebra to someone who thinks they already know all the answers.

Pumpsie has a reputation as Mr. Negative that he earned once upon a time, but anyone who actually reads his posts now can see that he's actually making an honest effort to be objective and that he says a lot of positive things about Sox players as well. For example, he was one of the posters sticking up for Ortiz against the attacks from Bill and 'jackbu'.

Yup.

Amazing what getting booted from a couple of other boards will do for one's attitude.

Great poster, but I was always more of a Cheryl Tiegs guy when it came to 1970s posters (used to have her on the back of the bedroom door of her in a bikini that was hot) and I was more of a Cheryl Ladd guy when it came to Charlie's Angels.

(Had a thing for Cheryl's in my teen years I guess.)

i was a heather thomas fan....you may remember this poster...this was on lil slash's wall: